SCOTLAND edinburgh
we took the megabus to edinburgh for the weekend…which only cost us about 5 pounds each! magabus is a low cost busline that runs between cities, and is similar to easyjet/ryanair on ground…which means sometime the same route might only cost a pound!
there was so much to see, and although small, edinburgh definitely caters to tourists. we had good times on princes street and george street (the rat pack piano bar is a must!), and we even tried some haggis at a scottish place on the royal mile! liam had a whole meal of it and i had a bite..which was enough for me. thinking about eating a whole plate where the main ingredients are sheep heart, liver, and lungs boiled in it’s stomach makes me gag. so back to the sites…with my favorite was the view from “the mound,” where you can see the castle and scott monument. we didn’t go into the castle because it was 11 pounds to get in, but now i wish we had. sad. i should just sucked it up and paid.
we stayed at argyle backpackers, which is up the street from ”the meadows” (a big park in the middle of the city). i lied being a bit outside of everything, because it gave us a chance to walk through parts of the town we would have otherwise missed. make reservations at http://www.argyle-backpackers.co.uk/index.htm!
since it was the rugby world cup, we caught the argentina-south africa game…and i was sad to see argentina lose. i also learned that the last thing most irish and scottish want to see is england win at anything. so, it was better for south africa to win because they had a better chance of beating the english in the final. (which they did!) basically, the english and the americans are kinda in the same boat and have a bad rep around the globe.
SCOTLAND aberdeen
i LOVE scotland. it is really chill here, and the greenery and fresh air is amazing! reminds me a bit of home. aberdeen was a nice surprise, since it is NOT a shithole like everyone said it was. i stepped off the plane and immediately felt like i could actually breathe…which was a nice change from the shit air of barça. ugh.
liam (a friend from the pub who is attending uni here) picked me up at the airport, and off we were to start our scotland trip! first stop: the town of aberdeen and the university. (founded in 1495!) most of the buildings are pretty short-i would say six stories max. i really like this about the campus and nearby neighborhoods, since it gives the area a small-town feeling.
i was kinda scared to stay at the guys´place because i imagined houses like the u-district. but liam and his friends might keep things in order more than some girls´! they have a chore list that is kinda followed. for example, a couple of people usually cook dinner, and then others take turns doing the dishes for EVERYONE. wtf. i have never heard of such a thing. who wants to do dishes that have been lying around? aberdeen uni boys. kind of outrageous, actually.
SPAIN barcelona (sneaky bastards)
my luck ran out and i finally got robbed. even after countless stories of people getting robed every which way, i felt comfortable trusting fellow backpackers and would leave my bags in the room. the taxi rides by myself in bolivia and peru were fine…and i always kept my bag close on the metro. so it was a shock when i realized i got robbed, since it probably happened in the TWO SECONDS i let my guard down and did not even realize it. sneaky bastards.
i was flyering at the top of la rambla and had my shoulder bag slung at my hip. i ran out of flyers, went back to the pub for a refill, and as i was sitting down for a break i realized my ipod was not in the usual compartment. i started emptying the contents thinking it had to be somewhere…and then realized my wallet was gone as well. i thought maybe, just maybe i had misplaced it but fionn, (my bartender friend whose bar i was sitting at) was like, ”you got robbed!” that is when it set in. i had so much crap in this thing i have no idea how they managed to unzip my bag WHILE IT WAS ON ME and nick the most valuable things. skills, i guess.
obviously, it sucks because of the inconvenience it caused me. at first i felt extremely violated and vulnerable…but then i got angry. haha going through the steps to recovery, right? anyway, angry because i felt like i was prepared for confrontations. for one, i have mase (thanks kell!) i am ready to use and have not had the chance to yet. two: i will most definitely whip out my swiss army knife if it comes down to it. and three: i give the evil eye to random people that look like they are looking at my belongings. but all of these things are useless if i don´t know i am getting robbed!
moral of the story: the thieves here are sneaky bastards and are extremely good at what they do. watch your stuff.
SPAIN barcelona (le mercé!:dos)
parc del fòrum was built to accommodate outdoor concerts and events. since it is away from residential areas, shows can start at two in the morning and go till seven if anyone gets a chance to go there is a club called cubic that we frequented on sundays (it is closed for the winter), and it was awesome since we would go after the pub at three am and stay till seven…and then catch the train home to sleep all day. and ofcourse, since it is barça, if you still want to party there is always an afterparty somewhere! anyway, for le mercé the fòrum was packed with thousands of people as it hosted free shows. one night we we went out to see cassius (french house dj band) at a mtv-sponsored event! i don´t think there would ever be a free show like this in the states. gotta love spain!
“piromusica” is the culmination of the festival, and ends with fireworks coordinated to the colorfully lit up fountain in plaza españa. the fountain show is one thing, but to see it in conjunction with fireworks was absolutely stunning! they also handed out packets sparklers (my favorite!) with lighters which we held up towards the end. it definitely capped off the crazy weekend of festivities!
SPAIN barcelona (le mercé!:uno)
an awesome perk about living in spain is that it is always celebrating some sort of holiday. ”le mercé” at the end of september marks the end of summer/beginning of fall and is held in honor of barcelona’s saint. there are over 500 events held throughout the weekend, and i got to catch a few of them. sooo…here are some highlights:
the first was the “correfoc,” which translates into “fire run” in catalan. people in “devil” costumes (the gaudi lizard was even one of them!), parade down the street breathing out fireworks which i swear are aimed at the crows gathered along the sidewalk. but what was really scary and kind of exciting were the other dancers alongside. these dances were more like drunk bar dances at irish pubs…except replace guinness pints with what looks like the skeleton of the umbrella with fireworks shooting out every which way like a sprinkler. loud cracking noises that went off every few minutes would make me jump, as these participants danced toward the crowd who would retreat away in a wave-like motion. although a lot of people were showering in it (99.9% of these people were wearing hoodies and scarves to cover their face) i was not prepared to do so. in fact, i was ready to have a heart attack every time one came by. thank god we were only there for a half hour or so!
the human towers in plaza de sant jaume were thrilling! some got as high as the surrounding buildings, as each level consisted of people standing on each others shoulders with their arms linked. drums start rolling as there is a time limit, and the pyramid is only complete when the last participant-a little child (probably about 3 years old) shimmies up one side and down the other. who the hell decides to let their kid participate? this definitely made me hold my breath! i only saw one pyramid crumble, and as the audience we could see it was going to happen. a guy in the middle of the tower was visibly shaking looking unbalanced, and sure enough, about ten seconds later the whole tower crumbled in slow motion. but atelast no one got hurt.
SPAIN barcelona (cata cata catalan!)
aaagh is is so good to sleep in the same bed and not have to worry about check-out time. i am actually home to enjoy my place now that i am done working my miserable 75 hour week. never again. i mean, it defeats the purpose of living here in barça. things can only get better from here! i got really lucky with my living situation, and currently live in a four-bedroom flat with two italians (carlo and giulia) and a spaniard (juampi). the only shitty thing is that three out of the four bedrooms’ windows open into the building’s courtyard so i get no natural light…the positive to this is that my room is really dark and i can sleep in forever. our place is next to la sagrada familia, so it is cool to see my favorite architectural piece of barça everyday!
so much for improving my spanish! the main language here is catalán, and if it is printed i can sort of read it…but have no clue when it comes to listening and watching a program. hanging out with people from the irish pub does not help either. so i try talking to my roommates when i am home…always with a dictionary on hand! in the last year, my english has started getting crappy from speaking broken english to foreigners (right, lish?), my spanish has improved a little, my japanese is somewhere in between, and i have had to substitute american english words for british english on some occasions. like when i was trying to work my work SCHEDULE for flyering…and kept hearing “rota. rota. “ no one ever told me it meant schedule! because of all these factors, i think it is hilarious that i am going to be picking up some english teaching classes to keep me going. we’ll see how it goes!
SPAIN barcelona (my new home!)
back in barça…fellow backpackers told me it is probably one of the easiest places to pick up a job, so i made my way down here. it helped that i had already been here and liked the vibe (miss you tiff and alex!) to know i was gonna come back one day. so, here i am. and lucky or unlucky for me, i managed to find two jobs and an apartment on my second day. the hostel receptionist informed me of loquo(craigslist for barcelona) and after replying to some postings i was set up.
this also meant i had to pay for the first and last month. my first “job” of the day was to flyer for an irish pub from 14:00-18:00, and 19:00-21:00. the people were chill and we goofed around most of the time but at 6 euros an hour it was not going to cut it. so immediately after this shitty shift, at 21:30, i would start bartending with the experience i DON´T have at a club in ciutadella villa olympica.
what a sleazy place. villa olympica has about twenty establshments lined up-like a strip mall but with clubs, and most of the clubs play the same music. same as in the same exact tracks, in the same order…since all the dj´s have this one party mix they put on. they just look like they are doing something. fuck. for eight straight hours, we had to endure the torture as some of my favorite dance songs turned into songs i could not listen to without thinking about the club. anyway, the music blares unnecessarily loud so you can´t even hear the order…whiskey and coke on the third time, you got it. but if you ask for specific hard alcohol and a mixer, forget about it. i can´t hear you and i have absolutely NO idea what you want.
the crowd here consists of mostly foreigners who get shit-faced and run around to all the bars. because i was sober, i was embarrassed for some of them and decided i did not want to get that drunk in public. haha. this combination of music and people naturally made these grounds sleazy, since some people came down here with the intention to take advantage of “rich tourists.” unfortunately, this included the bar owners. when girls came in, we gave them a free shot. if they were pretty, we gave them a free vodka lemon so that they would have to stick around and finish their drink. my favorite were the girls who saw right through this and would chug the drink and run. i actually encouraged some of them to do so. why stick around a shit club when you can hit up the next one? as more girls filled our bar, guys would come in and spend money…which was the point. there were a few times the owners made really stiff drinks and gave it to incoherent girls, and then proceeded to make out with them. sick.
only a week into it i hated working here so much that i am sure the owners noticed. they would call me over, and i seriously walked as slow as i could. plus, the long hours on my feet and acting chipper to rude people were killing me. i would sleep for about five hours, and then have to get up and start all over. since i usually try to get atleast ten hours, five was just too little. i have never worked this hard or been this exhausted in my life! so, a week after trying out the bartending gig and paying off the rent, i was done. thank god.
GERMANY berlin (sayonara, cold weather!)
i love berlin…if only the weather was nice all year long! it has been absolutely gorgeous here and i have only been rained on once, but i hear the winters are miserable…i had hoped to live and work in berlin, but since it did not work out i guess it was just meant to be. oh well.
the party scene here is off the hook! i wish i could remember the clubs we hit up but i don’t. haha. my favorite was the one by alexanderplatz with a roof top deck of some building…too bad we couldn’t enjoy chilling up there as much since it was freezing. the pub crawl through the bike tour was unreal. i mean, it was completely opposite of the “spanish steps” one in rome where one of the organizers admitted the “free shot” at every bar was juice. here, the pub crawl leaders carried around bottles of vodka and absinthe and poured it down your throat in between bars. hot damn.
now i am on my way back to barcelona…where i am giving myself a week to find a job. if not, i think i will try valencia. somewhere warm where i can practice my spanish but work to keep traveling. wish me luck!
GERMANY berlin (it´s cliche but you gotta bike around berlin!)
after four months in europe, i finally made it to berlin! my first stop was the tv tower by alexanderplatz to wait for randall. i was really excited to hang out with him since i saw enda in korea but had not seen randall since cusco… i sat in the fat tire bike tours office and a few minutes later randall arrived after giving his tour! on foot his place is kind of far, so he let me use a bike which meant i could not wear my backpack…but was amazed when he picked it up and rode his bicycle with my with it like it was nothing. good thing, since the last time i was on a bike was in mendoza riding around to all the wineries!
the next day, i got to go on the bike tour with randall. the people in the group were all nice and got along…and it was funny when one of the guys decided to ride in between this water faucet/fountain thing by the reichstag but got drenched as he slipped and skidded through it. it was especially funny since one of his mates caught it on video. ahahaha still makes me laugh.
on a more serious note, information given on the tour was thought-provoking and sometimes amuzing as we rode to famous sites (you know, like the brandenburger tor, a parking lot that now covers hitler´s bunker, checkpoint charlie…) around berlin. i never do tours since i end up getting distracted and bored, and i much prefer to read up on a subject. but since my friend was leading it, i kind of had to pay attention…and ended up getting a lot out of it. imagine that. the most powerful site for me was the memorial to the murdered jews of europe. we briefly stopped here where randall explained that the concrete slabs were purposefully uneven and on a slope to create a feeling of disorder. i think he said it was built this way so that it would be similar to how people felt going into the concentration camps. the next day, i rode back since i wanted to spend some time walking through this memorial. i was quite surprised to find a lot of people stepping all over the slabs, while others were playing hide-and-seek. this also contributed to the disordered feeling, as some were really somber while others giggled and enjoyed themselves.
GERMANY mitfahrgelegenheit.de
my observations about germany thus far: really kind people. courteous but fast drivers. most people speak english. are pretty much law-abiding citizens. lots of schnitzels and frankfurters. extremely expensive railways.
more on this last point: the train fare from würzburg to berlin was going to cost me around 180 euros! this is where the mitfahrgelegenheit.de is absolutely clutch. this website allows you to coordinate rides around the country, as drivers post their starting, stopping, and ending points and number of available seats. anna and i used it to get to würzburg and so i decided to use it for my berlin trip…and at 5 euro per 100km, it only cost me 25euro! whoo hoo.